Leigh Jin

If you are not Java programmer this class is not for you. She cators to students who have a good understanding in Java and her labs are absolutely useless as it becomes a typing contest (if students have questions, she pauses, but then everything else has to go faster and faster). It is hard to learn when your teacher just "unloads the material" whithout pausing and emphasizing the important stuff. This reminds me of the planned economy. She has a plan and you are not going anywhere untill she completes it. Her objective is to finish the material, not to teach you anything. It feels like she is there to dump off the info she has and go home. BTW, she is not good in managing time, so expect the classes to run 10-15 minutes late - consistently. Not all is bad, she posts the examples online, so you can use that as a guide for the homework. But coming to class was the worst experience I've had in SFSU.

At first, the class seems challenging. Ms. Jin is a little hard to understand at first, but once you understand her, the class becomes easier. Be sure to take notes in the class. The course is fast paced since it combines 2 classes into one class. Since it was her first semester teaching this course, it was a little difficult for Ms. Jin to find out where each student was as far as experience in Java. But once she was able to find out where the class stood as far as how we were progressing, it became easier. She does truly care about her students, and is willing to go into more details about a particular subject that was confusing to some students. Be sure to communicate with other students, as other students can help you with your Java coding and you may be able to possibly help them as well. I found it helpful to work with other students on coding, but make sure your coding isn't exactly the same as the other. If you understand the homework assignments, you'll do fine on the tests as the tests are just like the homework assignments, only in written form as opposed to being on your computer. Her homework assignments are fair and she is willing to help you with your coding, as long as you ask. If you don't speak up and let her know your concerns, she will assume that everything's ok and continue on, and you may just get more lost. Communication is key with this teacher.

She was a very understanding teacher, and very open to questions. She does have a chinese accent, but she's pretty much understandable. She is open to questions, which you will definitely need to ask for a Java clas like this one, especially if youre a beginner in programming. Sometimes I don't think she understood the questions people were aking her because she answered differently. Generally though, she's a good teacher and probably one of the best in State's ISYS department, which is notorious for bad teachers.

Admittedly, I have to take into account the fact that I was not Dr. Jin's "demographic," per se. As a CS major, I took Dr. Jin's class because I found myself in a semester without being able to take a CSC programming class and didn't want to fall out of practice.

The class is based on a 1000 point system, comprised of a midterm, final, and 6-7 projects. The book and your notes can be used on the tests, but the difficulty comes from the length of the programs. I think some of the programs on the tests may have been a bit too difficult for someone without any prior experience, especially since I found a couple of them to be very time consuming.

Dr. Jin's biggest weakness are her speaking skills. She sometimes does not understand the question being asked or a student's comments and heads off in another direction. Still, she is earnest to do a good job, and I think she has great potential as the years progress.

Out of all the CIS teachers teaching Java (which aren't many) she is the best. I took the course during the summer and it was extremely hard, but satisfying knowing that I passed the class. The grading is as follows:

10 homeworks 1 midterm 1 final 1 long project participation points (which is automatic if you go to class).

All together it is out of 1000 pts. The homeworks were not to difficult becuase they are similar to many of the problems from the book. You just have to think/analyze those problems (or in some cases put parts of 2 problems together) to make the problem work.

Both, The midterm and final are difficult, but manageable. Part of it is multiple choice, fill in blank, and writing code. If you have done the homework, and remeber the "methods" she talks about, then it shouldn't be a problem.

The project was long and difficult, but then again, "PROGRAMING IS NOT EASY". It takes a lot of effort to do well in the class if you haven't done any kind of programing before. You have to go at it like you are learing a new language, a very hard one, but with lots of resources to help.